THE UK Government is threatening Scotland's traveller quarantine plan by keeping a "loophole" open, SNP Transport Secretary Michael Matheson claims.

Holyrood ministers fear Westminster's failure to put all new arrivals into hotel quarantine will leave Scotland vulnerable to virus threats.

And the UK Foreign Secretary has dismissed the idea of tougher regulations on international arrivals.

From Monday, those coming to Scotland from overseas will have to quarantine in a hotel for 10 days.

In England, that rule only applies to travellers from 33 "red list" countries. 

Nations like Austria, where the South Africa variant of Covid-19 have been detected, are not currently included.

READ MORE: Westminster's lax quarantine rules putting Scots at risk, health expert warns

It's feared that "loophole" would allow people to dodge the £1750-a-head accommodation cost by landing in England and heading across the Border by road.

The Scottish Government wants all travellers who arrive in England for onward travel to Scotland to be placed into quarantine before that journey is allowed.

But there's currently no agreement on this and Matheson accepts that checks on all border crossers would be "very challenging".

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab told Sophy Ridge on Sunday he's confident his administration has "the right balance" of "robust measures, but targeted measures".

But Matheson has accused Westminster of a "failure to take action on the basis of the clinical and expert advice that has been provided" and his team will "continue to press the UK Government" for change. 

He said: "The danger is that if they don't act on this matter, they potentially undermine the public health approach here in Scotland. That's unacceptable."

The National:

He went on: "It's absolutely critical that the UK Government act on the clinical advice and that they put these arrangements in place to help to support our programme here in Scotland, if they're not prepared to do it for England."

On the issue of border checks, he commented: "The challenge you have with trying to achieve it through border checks between Scotland and England is just the thousands of vehicles that cross that particular route each day.

"It's something that's obviously an operational matter for the Chief Constable, but actually trying to operationalise it would be very challenging indeed.

"That's why the simplest and the safest approach to dealing with this is to have a comprehensive system in place. 

"And if the UK Government aren't prepared to do that, we could resolve the issue by simply ensuring those who are transferring on to Scotland have to go to a quarantine facility near to the airport they arrive at in England."

When asked about the possibility of a "blanket ban" covering all countries, Raab told Ridge: "I'm not sure that's proportionate, and of course having blanket bans on any, for example, air travel into the UK would be very difficult for the supply chains, things like freight."

The National:

Also appearing on the programme, Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford said he would have done the "opposite" to the UK Government in regard to its approach to overseas travellers coming to the UK.

He said: "Their approach is to say that 'everybody can come in, other than the people on the red list'.

"I would have said nobody can come in, other than a list of countries where we are absolutely sure that it is safe for people to come without the self-quarantine arrangements that have been suggested."